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Court rules: Jewish detainees to remain without lawyers

District Court Judge Avraham Tal rejected a series of appeals on behalf of four Jewish Israelis being detained as part of a Shin Bet investigation Tuesday, despite public protest over the case.

Tal rejected four appeals against the extension of the suspects' detention, and reject three out of four appeals against the decision to prevent the suspects from meeting with attorneys.

The judge did allow one suspect permission to meet with legal counsel, however, allowing him to meet with a lawyer Thursday; the other three will not be permitted legal counsel until Friday.

Attorneys Aharon Roza and Adi Keidar represented all four detainees on behalf of the Honenu legal rights organization.

Parents: Shin Bet depriving suspects of rights

The cause for the crackdown remains unknown, as circumstances of the case remain under gag order.

Similarities have been drawn between the case and the ISA investigation over the deadly Duma arson, which Israeli authorities say is the work of an alleged "Jewish terror" network.

During the Duma trials, a number of young Jewish activists were detained for prolonged periods of time and interrogated harshly, but most of those suspects were eventually released after it was revealed they were not connected to any such crimes.

With this in mind, the father of one prisoners expressed concern over his son's condition earlier Tuesday.

"My child is being held in a Shin Bet cell without being allowed to meet with a lawyer and without them informing us of his situation," he said. "As a father of five sons who served in combat units, some of them officers, it's difficult when the country treats you as a citizen without rights.

"We are very concerned that they are using unreasonable and illegal pressure on him during interrogations. We've already heard about recent prisoners who were tortured and we have no peace," he said.